Technique & Fine Points

Badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world. To be good at badminton sports you need to be quick on your feet and really agile. It provides a great cardio workout and demands high fitness and stamina levels. There is no substitute for long hours of practice and single minded dedication. Proper guidance and rigorous court work can help you improve your techniques and make your game better.

The first thing that you need to take care of is your grip – the way you hold the racquet. It is the base groundwork of playing badminton sports. Holding the racquet wrongly can reduce the power behind your strokes, which can be a major disadvantage. It will also limit the range of shots you can play and hence you might not enjoy the game itself. There are two basic types of grips in badminton sports – the forehand grip and the backhand grip.

Good footwork is a skill that you need to excel in to be a winner in badminton sports. Good footwork will help you get to stray shots while maintaining your balance and dodge your opponent. Jump, skip, bounce, shuffle, glide, lunge are some of the things you need to do on a badminton court. Adjust your base position according to the strengths and weaknesses of you and your opponent.

A well timed and well placed serve is the most effective arrow in your quiver when playing badminton. Mastering various types of serves – high serve, flick serve, low serve and drive serve is important to improve your game.

After the serves comes the clears – most crucial of all the badminton strokes that can be played overhead or underarm. They can be played on both forehand and backhand sides. Practicing your clears can improve your game to a great extent.

Badminton drop shots are delicate shots which when played with the right placement and timing can ensure you an upper hand in the game. They can be played on backhand as well as forehand sides too. The idea is to force the opponent to move to the front court so that the mid court and the back court remain free. Drop shots in badminton sports are of two types – slow drop shot and fast drop shot.

A well executed smash shot is the deadliest weapon that you can use on a badminton court. The power, speed, angle and trajectory of a smash shot will determine how difficult it is for your opponent to recover. A smash shot hit towards the downward direction with optimum force is ideal.

Drives are shots which cross over the net flatly in a horizontal trajectory. Drives are attacking shots that are used when the shuttlecock is too low for you to hit a smash. These shots can be played straight down the court or diagonally. They are used more in doubles games, where it is advisable to keep the shuttlecock at a low height.

Badminton net play is an important area of the game which requires great amount of refinement. These are delicate shots which involve a sudden change of the angle of the racquet to confuse your opponent. Net shots are of three types – net shot, net kill and net lift.